Semiconductor device having multi-layer copper line and method of forming same
A semiconductor device includes a lower copper line formed on a substrate, an interlayer insulating layer formed on the lower copper line, and an upper copper line formed on the interlayer insulating layer. A copper via contact extends through the interlayer insulating layer for electrically connecting the lower copper line and the upper copper line. A concave recess is formed within the lower copper line and is vertically aligned and arranged below the copper via contact. A patterned barrier layer is formed at a bottom portion of the concave recess, such that the lower copper line and the copper via contact are directly electrically connected at an interface along sides of the concave recess, without an intervening barrier layer.
Latest Samsung Electronics Patents:
- CLOTHES CARE METHOD AND SPOT CLEANING DEVICE
- POLISHING SLURRY COMPOSITION AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING INTEGRATED CIRCUIT DEVICE USING THE SAME
- ELECTRONIC DEVICE AND METHOD FOR OPERATING THE SAME
- ROTATABLE DISPLAY APPARATUS
- OXIDE SEMICONDUCTOR TRANSISTOR, METHOD OF MANUFACTURING THE SAME, AND MEMORY DEVICE INCLUDING OXIDE SEMICONDUCTOR TRANSISTOR
This is a divisional of application Ser. No. 10/067,342, filed Feb. 7, 2002 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,548,905 which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
This application relies for priority upon Korean patent application No. 2001-006812, filed on Feb. 12, 2001, the contents of which are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a semiconductor device having a multi-layer copper line. More specifically, the present invention is directed to a semiconductor device in which upper and lower layers are copper lines and a via contact hole is formed therebetween.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the integration density of semiconductor devices increases,circuit lines become more complex, making it difficult to layout and construct these complex circuits on just a single device layer. Accordingly, multi-layer circuit lines and patterns are used to achieve the desired performance result.
While tungsten may be employed as a conductive material for the circuit line, due to its ability to provide high step coverage necessitated by the increasing aspect ratios of present devices, the material of choice for the circuit lines is still aluminum. Despite its many advantages, the aluminum cannot completely fill a contact hole having a high aspect ratio.
Also, generally in high-integration semiconductor devices, the metal line width is reduced while the circuit line distance remains unchanged. As such, short circuits may result from electro-migration (EM) and circuit line resistance may increase. In effect, high-integration semiconductor devices suffer from circuit line resistance and contact resistance problems that do not occur in low-integration semiconductor devices.
To overcome the foregoing problems, copper has been employed as a circuit line material for semiconductor devices. Compared to aluminum, copper has a lower resistance, which mitigates the circuit line resistance and thereby increases the reliability of semiconductor products. Unfortunately, copper is not ideally suited for conventional semiconductor device patterning processes because the etchability of copper is lower than that of aluminum. In addition, copper is easily diffused into silicon and silicon oxide layers, resulting in short circuits or increases in leakage current and parasitic capacitance.
Various approaches have been developed for solving the problems that are caused by the use of copper as a circuit line conductor. One process is known as a damascene process. In the damascene process, a lower layer is etched to form a recess therein. Copper is deposited and planarized using a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) technique such that the copper only remains in the recess. Thus, it is not necessary to directly pattern the copper. In order to solve the diffusion problem, a method of depositing a thin diffusion barrier layer and then forming the copper can be used.
Referring to
Referring to
In such a multi-layer circuit line using copper, the barrier layer 23 is interposed between the lower metal line 15 and the upper metal line 25 including the copper layer of the via contact. With reference to the current flow, the barrier layer 23 is serially connected between the copper layers (lower metal line 15 and upper metal line 25). The barrier layer 23 is typically made of tantalum or tantalum nitride. Since the conductivity of tantalum or tantalum nitride is lower than that of copper, the resistance at the via contact interface becomes high.
Also, in the copper line, the density and current resistance become high, creating heat which causes electro-migration (EM). As the contact area is reduced in high integration devices, the current density in a via or a contact becomes higher than that in each layer line. The resulting EM can result in a open circuit. In some cases, the EM is intensified by a so-called current crowding phenomenon, in which the current density is crowded (or accumulates) at a corner where the layer line and the via contact intersect at a right angle.
Another problem is that in addition to the barrier layer preventing uniform connection of each layer copper line to a via contact, voids can be created during the formation of the layer.
Methods for solving the above-mentioned barrier layer problems are disclosed in Korea Patent Publication No. 1999-029770 and Japan Patent publication No. 10-261715. According to these methods, a lower copper line, a via hole, and a barrier layer are sequentially formed. The resulting structure is then etched back to remove the barrier layer on a bottom of the via hole. However, since1 the etch-back technique removes the horizontally formed barrier layer on the bottom of an upper copper line in a dual damascene process, another barrier layer must previously have been deposited for preventing diffusion of the upper copper line.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIt is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a semiconductor device which only removes a barrier layer at an interface between an upper copper line and a copper via contact, and a method of forming the same.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a semiconductor device which can prevent electro-migration, and a method of forming the same.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a semiconductor device which can lower a resistance of a via contact interface at a multi-layer copper line, and a method of forming the same.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a semiconductor device which can increase product reliability and improve product characteristics by decreasing circuit resistance, and a method of forming the same.
According to an aspect of the invention, a semiconductor device is provided in which a lower copper line is formed on a substrate, an interlayer insulating layer is formed on the lower copper line, and an upper copper line is formed on the interlayer insulating layer. A copper via contact is formed within the interlayer insulating layer for electrically connecting the lower copper line and the upper copper line. A concave recess is formed within the lower copper line and is vertically aligned and arranged below the copper via contact. A patterned barrier layer is formed only at a bottom portion of the concave recess, wherein the lower copper line and the copper via contact are electrically connected at an interface along sides of the concave recess, without an intervening barrier layer.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of forming a semiconductor device having a multi-layer line, including forming an insulating layer on a substrate containing circuit devices, forming a lower copper line on the insulating layer, and forming an interlayer insulating layer on the lower copper line. The interlayer insulating layer is patterned to form a groove in an upper surface thereof, and a via contact hole is formed in a lower surface of the groove, thereby exposing a portion of the lower copper line. A concave recess is formed at the exposed portion of the lower copper line, the concave recess being vertically aligned with, and arranged below, the via contact. A patterned barrier layer is formed at a bottom portion of the concave recess, along a sidewall of the via contact, and along the bottom surface and sides of the groove. The groove and the via contact are filled with copper to form an upper copper line, and thereby electrically connecting the upper copper line, the via contact and the lower copper line.
The above objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent by describing in detail a preferred embodiment thereof with reference to the attached drawings in which:
FIG. 1 and
FIG. 4 through
The present invention will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which a preferred embodiment of the invention is shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, the embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the concept of the invention to those skilled in the art. In the drawings, the thickness of a layer or region are exaggerated for clarity. It will also be understood that when a layer is referred to as being “on” another layer or substrate, it can be directly on the other layer or substrate, or intervening layers may also be present.
A via contact is formed through the second interlayer insulating layer 21 and the barrier layer 19, connecting the lower metal line 150 and upper copper line 251. A patterned barrier layer 231 is formed on an inner side of the upper copper line 251 and a side of the via contact, i.e., on an interface between the second interlayer insulating layer 21 and the upper copper line 251 and the via contact.
A concave recess 110 is formed below the via contact in the lower copper line 150, and a patterned barrier layer 232 is formed on a portion of the bottom of the recess 110. Accordingly, if an electrical signal is applied from the upper copper line 251 through the via contact to the lower copper line 150 (i.e., in the direction of the current flow), it mainly flows along sides of the recess 110, without an intervening barrier layer.
FIG. 4 through
With this structure, the lower copper line 150 is exposed through the via hole 235, and it can then be subjected to an etching process, for example, a wet etch. In this embodiment, a dense nitric acid (HNO3:H2O with a molar ratio of about 1:1) is used to etch the lower copper line 150. If the lower copper line 150 has a thickness of 3,000 Å, the etching of the exposed area progresses until about 1,500 Å is etched. It is understood that within the scope of this invention, the precise concentration of the etch solution, etch time, and temperature of the nitric acid may be altered by one of ordinary skill in the art, so as to produce a practical and suitable contact interface between upper and lower copper layers through the via contact.
The wet tech process thus forms recess 110 within a portion of the lower copper line 150. As shown in
Generally, if the aspect ratio of the via contact is 2 or higher, a barrier layer is rarely formed at a sidewall part of the recess, i.e., a bottom corner part of the via contact. Thus, alternatively, the recess 110 may be formed using an anisotropic etch and an etch using a chemical etchant such as HF. The chemical etchant is used to etch copper oxide, which is formed when the exposed copper is oxidized to a constant thickness.
Referring also to
Referring to
Referring to
After the bulk copper layer 250 is formed, a CMP process is preferably used to planarize the structure (using the second interlayer insulating layer 21 as an etch stop), thus removing any remaining portions of the bulk copper layer 250, copper seed layer 250′, and the barrier layer 230. This leaves the copper just in the groove 255 and the via hole 235. CMP is preferred over etch-back for planarization, since copper has inferior etching characteristics. As a result, an upper copper line 251 is formed as shown in FIG. 3 and the dual damascene process is completed. If an interlayer insulating layer or a protect layer of silicon or silicon oxide are formed on the upper copper line 251, a thin nonconductive barrier layer is formed previously.
In either embodiment, to ensure a sufficient contact area, if the via contact is cylindrical, the depth of a recess formed in the lower copper line is preferably greater than a diameter of the via contact by about 25%.
While illustrative embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, numerous variations and alternate embodiments will occur to those skilled in the art, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, it is intended that the present invention not be limited solely to the specifically described illustrative embodiments. Various modifications are contemplated and can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
Claims
1. A method of forming a semiconductor device having a multi-layer line, comprising:
- forming an insulating layer on a substrate containing circuit devices;
- forming a lower copper line on the insulating layer;
- forming an Interlayer insulating layer on the lower copper line;
- patterning the Interlayer insulating layer to form a groove in an upper surface thereof, and forming a via contact hole in a lower surface of the groove, thereby exposing a portion of the lower copper line;
- forming a concave recess at the exposed portion of the lower copper line, the concave recess being vertically aligned with, and arranged below, the via contact; and
- forming a patterned barrier layer at a bottom portion of the concave recess, along a sidewall of the via con tact. and along the lower surface and sides of the groove:
- filling the groove and via contact with Copper to form en upper copper line, thereby directly electrically connecting the upper copper line, the via contact and the lower copper line.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising forming an nonconductive barrier layer on the lower copper line before forming the interlayer insulating layer, wherein the nonconductive barrier layer Is etched in the step of forming the via contact hole.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the forming of the concave recess continues until a depth of the recess is greater than a width of the via contact hole by about 25%.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the forming of the concave recess is carried out using a wet etch process, and wherein the etching of the lower copper fine produces an undercut of the interlayer insulating layer.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the patterned barrier layer is formed by sputtering, and the patterned barrier layer is composed of one of tantalum or tantalum nitride.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the filling of the groove and via contact with copper comprises,
- forming a copper seed layer over the patterned barrier layer; and
- forming a bulk copper layer over the copper seed layer to fill the via contact hole and groove.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein the copper seed layer is formed by a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process.
8. The method of claim 6, wherein the bulk copper layer is formed by an electroplating process.
9. The method of claim 4, wherein the wet etching is performed using a solution of nitric acid to diluted water of about 1:1.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein patterned barrier layer is formed by sputtering.
5470790 | November 28, 1995 | Myers et al. |
6011311 | January 4, 2000 | Hsing et al. |
6040243 | March 21, 2000 | Li et al. |
6150723 | November 21, 2000 | Harper et al. |
6211085 | April 3, 2001 | Liu |
6376353 | April 23, 2002 | Zhou et al. |
6476489 | November 5, 2002 | Yoo et al. |
6613664 | September 2, 2003 | Barth et al. |
799286 | April 1995 | JP |
10-261715 | September 1998 | JP |
Type: Grant
Filed: Jan 9, 2003
Date of Patent: Apr 26, 2005
Patent Publication Number: 20030100181
Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (Suwon-si)
Inventors: Ki-Chul Park (Seoul), Seung-Man Choi (Ohsan-shi)
Primary Examiner: Carl Whitehead, Jr.
Assistant Examiner: William Vesperman
Attorney: Volentine Francos & Whitt PLLC
Application Number: 10/338,908